THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Welcome to the White House. And I am
honored to join you for the National Day of Prayer.
I'm sorry Laura is not here -- she's out selling her book. (Laughter.)

Shirley, thank you very much for being the Chairman of the National Day of
Prayer. Glad you brought old Jim with you. (Laughter.) Dr. Zacharias,
thank you for being the Honorary Chairman. I appreciate the members of my
Cabinet who are here today, thank you all for coming. It's good to see
members of the United States Senate and the House of Representatives.
Appreciate you all taking time out of your busy schedule to come by. It's
always good to be with you.

I want to thank our military chaplains who are with us. Thank you for
doing the Lord's work with our troops. I'm proud to have prayer leaders
here. Rabbi Fishman, thank you, it's good to see you again, sir. Father
Coughlin, from the United States House of Representatives, it's good to see
you, sir. I want to thank Pastor Mays, who will be following me here
shortly, for coming. I'm looking forward to hearing the choir of Saint
Patrick's Cathedral, New York City, New York. It's going to be a great
moment to have this East Room filled with the joy of song. So I welcome
them here today.

On this day, Americans come together to thank our Creator for our nation's
many blessings. We are a blessed nation. And on this day, we celebrate
our freedoms, particularly the freedom to pray in public and the great
diversity of faith found in America. I love being the President of a
country where people feel free to worship as they see fit. And I remind
our fellow citizens, if you choose to worship or not worship, and no matter
how you worship, we're all equally American. (Applause.)

I think one of the interesting things about a National Day of Prayer is it
does help describe our nation's character to others. We are a prayerful
nation. A lot of citizens draw comfort from prayer. Prayer is an
important part of the lives of millions of Americans. And it's
interesting, when you think about our faith you can find it in the Pledge
of Allegiance, you can find an expression of American faith in the
Declaration of Independence, and you can find it in the coins in our
pockets. I used to carry coins -- (laughter) -- in about 10 months I'll be
carrying them again. (Laughter and applause.)

The fidelity to faith has been present in our nation's leaders from its
very start. Upon assuming the presidency, George Washington took the oath
of office and then added the famous plea, "So help me God." On John
Adams's first day in the White House, he wrote a prayer that is now etched
in marble on the fireplace in the State Dining Room, and he prayed, "May
none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof." Now we'll leave
it to the historians to judge whether or not that happened throughout our
history. (Laughter.)

During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln turned to prayer. His second
Inaugural Address quoted from Scripture. He stood before the United States
people and quoted from Scripture. And he sought to heal a people who "read
the same Bible and prayed to the same God" -- his words.

As William McKinley lay dying from an assassin's bullet, one of his final
words on earth focused on the Almighty. On his deathbed he was heard to
say, "Nearer, my God to thee."

As American forces risked their lives on D-Day, Franklin Roosevelt
delivered a presidential prayer over the radio. He asked God to protect
our troops as they liberated "a suffering humanity" and he prayed for "a
peace that will let all men live in freedom." When Roosevelt died, his
successor, Harry Truman, said he "felt like the moon, the stars and all the
planets" had fallen on him. And he told reporters: "Boys, if you ever
pray, pray for me now."

John F. Kennedy attended mass in Florida during the last week of his
presidency, and during the last week of his life. It was at that mass that
he heard the parable where our Lord compared the Kingdom of Heaven to a
mustard seed that grew into a large tree and offered shelter to God's
creatures.

Three days after the worst terrorist attack on American soil, Laura and I
joined our fellow citizens in prayer before the Lord. It was in the middle
hour of our grief. We prayed for those who were missing. We prayed for
the dead. We prayed for those who loved them. I recalled the words of a
woman from New York, who said, "I prayed to God to give us a sign that He
is still here."

Well, sometimes God's signs are not always the ones we look for. And we
learn in tragedy that His purposes are not always our own. But we also
know that in adversity we can find comfort through prayer.

Over the last seven years, our country has faced many trials. And time and
time again we have turned to prayer and found strength and resilience. We
prayed with those who've lost everything in natural disasters, and helped
them heal and recover and build. We prayed for our brave and brilliant
troops who died on the field of battle. We lift up their families in
prayer. And as we pray for God's continued blessings on our country, I
think it makes sense to hope that one day there may be a International Day
of Prayer, that one day the national -- (applause.) It will be a chance
for people of faith around the world to stop at the same time to pause to
praise an Almighty. It will be a time when we could prayer together for a
world that sees the promise of the Psalms made real: "Your love is ever
before me, and I walk continually in your truth."

I want to thank you all for coming. Particularly want to thank you for
your prayers. You know, somebody asked me one time, when I was there over
seeing the Sea of Galilee, they said, what did you think about what you
were there, Mr. President? I said I have finally understood the story of
the calm on the rough seas. I may have been a little hardheaded at times,
but I'm absolutely convinced it was the prayers of the people who helped me
understood in turbulence you can find calm and strength. And I thank you
for those prayers. (Applause.)